For the last two summers the Bastiaanse family of Rangiora have been doing exactly that, using a specially designed Malibu jet-boat to create the perfect lake wave.
Sebastiaan Bastiaanse said the family of keen surfers bought the boat so they could hit the waves even when they were hundreds of kilometres from the ocean.
Using ballast tanks in the hull and specially designed "surf gates", the boat can create a wave up to 1.5m high which can be surfed like any other.
All it took was a push of a button and the boat created the perfect wave which could be fine-tuned to suit the surfer.
While the Malibu style of boat was becoming more popular, it still caught the attention of other lake-goers, he said.
The benefit of the lake wave was you did not have to paddle out each time you wanted to surf, he said.
"You can just drop off the back of the boat, catch the wave, and as long as you can stay on the board and stay in the wave you can keep going."
While Mr Bastiaanse would not disclose how much the boat cost, he did say it was not cheap.
